Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, on Tuesday, at the floor of the State House of Assembly, presented an Appropriation Bill of six hundred and six billion, nine hundred and ninety-one million, eight hundred and forty-six thousand, one hundred and eighteen naira (N606,991,846,118) for Anambra State’s 2025 fiscal year.
The budget estimate, ‘changing gears 2.0,’ represents a 48% increase on the 2024 budget of N410 billion.
A further breakdown shows that Recurrent expenditure was put at N140 billion, accounting for 77% of the budget, while capital expenditure was N467 billion, accounting for 23%.
The budget deficit is estimated at N148.3 billion (24% of the budget compared to 30% in the 2024 budget).
In response to the state’s security challenges, N42 billion was earmarked for security, aimed at strengthening efforts to combat insecurity.
Additionally, the governor’s security vote budget has been raised from N17 billion in 2024 to N25 billion in 2025.
Soludo presented the budget and said his government plans not to borrow to fund the budget deficit of about N148.3 billion.
Soludo revealed that the bulk of the budget revolves around infrastructure, economic transformation, and human capital development, which he said are his administration’s key targets.
“The budget deficit is estimated at N148.3 billion, which is 24% of the total budget, compared to 30% in the 2024 budget.”
“As with the 2024 budget, the deficit is expected to be funded through revenue growth or borrowing from financial institutions. Thus far, in both 2023 and 2024, we have not borrowed to finance budget deficits.”
“Depending on performance in 2025, we may still not need to borrow to fund the deficit. Relative to 2024, several key sectors will see significant increases: the administrative sector by 45.5%; the economic sector by 40.1%; the judiciary sector by 51.3%; the social sector by 82.7%; education by 101.4%; health by 57.1%; and infrastructure investment by 38.9%,” he said.
The governor, however, observed that the budget’s size is relatively small in real terms of purchasing power and even in US dollars, amounting to $357 million, when compared to actual expenditures as per audited accounts in previous years (2008: $517 million; 2013: $1.1 billion; 2014: $1.2 billion; 2015: $685 million and 2021: $329 million).
He said, “What is before you are budget estimates, and even if we execute it 100%, it will still be a fraction of what was spent in some years past. This is even more so given the humongous increases in the prices of basic inputs in construction and governance.
“Government vehicles have to be fueled at over N1000 per litre compared to less than N100 some years ago or cement which cost a few hundred Naira up to N3,000 a few years ago now costs about N10,000 per bag. Other inputs have increased by hundreds of percent, but revenue has not increased proportionately in nominal or real terms.
“For us, there are no excuses or complaints. We applied for the job and must deliver dividends of democracy to our people in spite of all the constraints.
“So far, even with a fraction of resources available some years ago, we are determined to deliver multiples of results produced in years past. As stated in the 2024 budget speech, we will only borrow on two strict criteria: (a) it must be a concessionary loan, and (b) it must be allocated to projects with a clear plan for repayment in the future.”
